Pusher plate



March 16, 1937. V KE 2,73,86

PUSHER PLATE Filed 001:. 20, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR WILHELMUSADRIANUS VAN BERKEL ATTYS.

March 16, 1937. w. A. VAN BERKEL PUSHER PLATE Filed Oct. 20, 1953 5Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4.

FIG. 3.

INVENTOR= FIG. 5.

WILHELMUS ADRIANUS VAN BERKEL Patented Mar. 16, 1937 UNITED STTES PATENT"OFFICE PUSHER. PLATE Wilhelmus Adrianus van Berkel, Clarens,Switzerlaml, assignor to U. S..Slicing Machine.Company,La Forte, Ind.,a. corporation of Indiana :Applicationctober 20, 1933, Serial No.694,378 In Great Britain November 4, 1932 11 Claims.

: latter being manually or spring.pressed toward the cuttingplane of theknife and. gauge plate.

In slicing machines of this type generally speakingit: is desiiable tohave as narrow a slicingmaohine as possible inorder that the thermore,most substances which are sliced in :delicatessen stores and the likeare not extremely "long and therefore the widthof the slicingmachineordinarily does not: have to be very great.

15 Sometimes, however, itbecomes necessary to, slice Llongensulostancesand the narrowslicing machinesare :not equipped tohandle thesame, atz:least with apositivefeed,as the pusher plates which areusedgenerally have a travel whch 20:doesnotexceedthewidth of thesubstance supzporting tab1e.

.Thepreseht invention, thereforey.has for one of tsobjects theprovisionoffeeding means ;for feeding. substances which are longer than1.25 .the1normal permitted feed for the pusher plate.

.Another object of this invention is to provide a pusherplate whch ispositively guided and. whichcan, if desired, be usedtolfeed a substancewhich is longer than the width of the .30 slicing machine table in.thedirection of feed of the substance. The pusher plate is so m0unted -wasto1permitthelong substance to be fed toward "the cutting planeof theknfe with the pusher plate at the rearend. of the substance until the 5substance has had some slices out therefromsufficient to make thesubstance materially shorter than orignally, after whch theposition ofthe xpusher plate is changed with respect to its mounting so that theremaining part of the substance is fed the Same asthe ordinary shortpiece of substance which is sliced on machines of this character.

"A still"further object of this invention is to :;provide a positvefeedfor a pusher plate along -a plurality of sirnilar paths of substantiallythe same extent lout varying wth respect to the substance supportingtabie or carriage.

Anotherobject of this invention is to provide an adjustabie pusher plateorwork feeding membe1 vwhich.is adjustable relative to its eeding meansin a direction towarclancl away irom the "cutting"plane of the knife,and indeperidently of the feeding mo-vement of the feedingmeans. :Thisisto enable one to slice long substances saswell .as short substances ona slicing machine table which is designed primarily to accommo dateon.ly short substances.

"Another object" of this invention is to provide a feeding means forfeeding the substance comprising eithera power or manually fed member 5having a limited path of travel to whch a feedng member such as a clampor pusher plate may be connectecl at difierent positions with respectthereto in a direction perpendicular of the cutting plane of the knife,or in the direction of feedof the substance.

-Another object of this invention is to provide a feeding means whchemb0clies an actuating member and a substance engaging member adaptedtube secured thereto in any one of a plurality of relative positionsspaced from each other in the direction of feeding movement wherebysubstances of greater length may be sliced by the slicing machine.

Other objects of this invention will appear hereinafter as thedescription of this invention proceeds, the novel eatures, arrangements,and combinations being clearly set forth in the specification and.claims.

In the drawings:

Figijl is a side elevational view of a slicing machine embodying myinvention;

Fig 2 is a view looking in the direction of the arrows 22; of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken along the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 illustrates a modfied form of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is a vertica1 cross-sectional view through a modified slicingmachine table embodying my inirention Fig. '7 is a view looking in thedirection 11 eratinghandle I'| fox reciprocating the carriage along theguiderods l4 and I5. A gauge plate l8 having the operative face thereofsubstantially in the cuttng plane of the knife is adjusted to variousclesired positions parallel to the cutting plane of the knife by meansof an actuating knoh |9 in a manner which is well known in the art towhich this invention pertains.

The substance is mounted on the supporting surface 20 of the carriagewhich is formed as a V-shaped trough, the sdes of which both extendupwardly but in opposite directions away from a horizontal plane as isclearly illustrated in Fig. 1. Mounted on the substance supportingcarriage I3 beneath the supportng surface 20 are a pair of guide rods 2!on which a hearing 22 sldes. 'Ihe hearing member 22 has a portionextencling to the right of the carriage as viewed. in Figs. 1 and 2, andthis part of the hearing member carries the uprights 23 which guide apusher plate support 24 for movement in an upward direction.

As is best illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the support 24 has a pivot 25on which a plate 26 is pivotecl This plate carries a substance pusherplate 21 having prongs 28 extending outwardly fro1n opposite sidesthereof with additional prongs 29 extencling from the upper and loweredges thereof as is clearly illustrated in Figs. 1

and 3. This pusher plate 21 is secured rgidly to the plate 26 and movestherewth. 'I'he pusher plate 2. carries a rearwardly extending pin 30which is adapted to engage limiting stops 3! on the support 24 so thatthe same can he moved to either the full line position or dotted lineposition and held. by gravity in ether of said positions with the pin 30aganst one or the other of the stops M. A simple manual movement of thepusher plate 21 hrings the pusher plate into eitner position which maybe desred.

Since the pusher plate is provided. with prongs 28 on the opposite sdesthereof and on the upper and lower edges thereof, the pusher plate willalways have prongs disposed toward the out ting plane of the knife andtoward the substance supporting surface 20, no matter which of itspositions it occupies. Intermediate positions for the plate 2! may heprovided f desired.

Surrounding one of the guide rods 2! is a coled spring 32 which ahuts atone end thereof against the hearing 33 for the guide rod and at theother end against the hearing member 22. As the spring expancls, thehearing member 22 and. consequently the pusher plate 21 is moved towardthe cutting plane of the knife to maintain the forward edge of thesubstance against the gauge plate |8 which latter gauges the thicknessof the slice to he formeel.

When the pusher plate is in the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3, itlies closely adjacent the cutting plane of the knife with the prongs 28almost in the cutting plane of the knife while When the pusher plate isin the full line position shown in that figure, the prongs on theoperative face thereof lie farther from the cutting plane of the knifealthough the position of the support 24 is unchanged. Therefore, Whenthe substance to he sliced is long, the pusher plate is moved to theposition shown hy full lines in Fig. 3 S0 as to have a greater dstancehetween the operative face thereof and the cutting plane of the knife.The hearing member 22 is moved away from the cutting plane of the knifeagainst the action of the spring 32 as ar as possible, and the substanceplaced hetween the pusher plate 21 and. the gauge plate. The pusherplate is then released and the plate acts to feed the substance in theusual manner. When the support 24 has been moved toward the cuttingplane of the knife as fa1 as possible with the pusher plate in the fullline position shown in Fig. 3, the hearing member 22 is again retractedagainst the action of the spring 32 and the pusher plate 21 moved to thedotted line position with respect to the support 24. This hrings theother face of the pusher plate opposite the end of the substance whichis now quite short, and the spring 32 will feed the substance until theends of the prongs 28 are substantially in the cutting plane of theknife but just slightly spaced therefrom. 'Iherefore, it will be seenthat with a pusher plate constructed as set forth herein, a longersubstance may he sliced than is permitted hy the normal travel of thehearing member 22. 'Iherefore, if the travel of the hearing member 22 ismade maximum for the width of the slicing machine carriage in adirection perpendicular to the cutting plane of the knife, one can getthe benefit of a still longer travel of the hearing member by adjustingthe position of the pusher plate 21 in the manner which has been setforth.

In addition to utilizing the pusher plate 21 solely as a pusher platearranged behind the substance, one can use the same for a top clamp bysliding the support 24 upwardly along the uprights 23 and hrnging thesupport clownwardly to press the prong 29 into the substance, thefeeding then taking place in the usual marmer, or the same can be usedfor feeding substances toward the cutting plane of the knife byengagement with the top thereof merely by a pivotng movement of theplate 21 into engagement with the top side of the substance withoutmoving the support 24 along the uprights.

As has already been ponted out, the full line position of the pusherplate shown in Fig. 3 is used for the longer substances. Thesesubstances sometimes hang over the edge of the substance carriage, andthis overhangi.ng portion tends to increase the frictional resistance tothe advance of the substance toward the cutting plane of the knife. Thisis particularly true of thin substances, such as bacon. However, theprongs which engage a slab of bacon or the like, are situated below thepivot 25. 'I'herefore, as the substance is advanced. toward the cuttingplane of the knife hy the pusher plate, there is a tendency for thepusher plate, due to the reactionary pressure of the bacon aganst theplate, to rotate in a counterclockwise direction from the positionindicated in Fig. 3 hy full line. This lifts the bacon slightly, andreduces the frotional contact hetween the lower side of the slab ofbacon and. the substance supporting carriage, |6. There is a suflicientamount of the bacon in contact with the substance supporting carriage |6near the cutting plane of the knife to resist any substantial amount oflateral shifting movement of the same during the slicing operation.

With a shorter substance however, there is less weght on the substancecarriage, and consequently the amount of friction which resists lateralshifting movement of the substance during slicing of the same isreduced. However with the pusher plate in the dotted line position shownin Fig. 3, the reactionary pressure is such as to tend to force thepusher plate in a counter-clockwise direction, and. if the pin 36 is notin engagement with the stop 3l, the reactionary pressure will tand toforce the bacon down against the supporting surface of the substancecarriage. Or the bacon can he held in greater frictional engagement withthe substance supporting carriage by having the prongs 29 engage theupper side of the slab of bacon with the pusher plate tilted at a slight=angle tothe vertical. Thus, when the overhang of the suhstance tends toincreasezthe friction'al "resistance to the a;dvance of the si1hstance;the same may"be reduce'dand also whenthe fritional 5resistance tothelateral shifting of the suhstance is lessened' due to the shortersuhstanee, this resistance can be increased in the manner set forth."This use of my invention is-not limited solely =to substances such asslahsof bacon; f or= due to the fact that hearing 24 can slide along=rcidi 23,

the pivot 2 5 can always= he placed at a position ahove theupper=sicleof the suhstance. With the pivot 25 ahove the upper side ofthe suhstance;or the"portion of the suhstance contactedhy thepusher-plate, theaforesad result willoccur.

prongs4fl on the said facethereotandwprongs 4l on the lower edgethereof. A. IOCKIIgDII Z is pressed by a spring 43 towardthesupport34"and is adapted to enter openings 44 :or 45depending "upon whether thelinks and pushersplate occupy the full ordotted linecpositionrespetztively. With this construction,zit wll he notedithat prongs arenecessary "onlyon the forwardface of the t=pusher plate and. atthelower*edgthereof since thepusherplatemoves fromonepositio-n -to theother .through positions allof whi'ch are parallel to each other, thusmaintaining the same: operativefaceof thepusher platefacingthewcuttingplane of theknife at alltimes; IIGdVCG oper- 35ates in the manner setforth inconnectionwvith the form of the invention shown-imEigs. 1.to 3inolusive.

In Figs:6 '7 and 81 haveillustrated amodfication of myinvention whichissomewhat similar 40 to that disclosedinFigs. land2hutinthismodification the hearing memher-:-4B --which.corresponds to thehearing member 122 in lg2has"an extension 41 secured thereto extendingtoward the operators side -of theslicing machine tahle 45- 48 ratherthan toward the side ;away from the operator. This extension 41 hasareducedneck portion 48 and anelongated portion 49. outsideof the casting50 to which there is.securedin a mannerwhich I will descrhe, .apusherplate5l 50 having suhstance engaging prongs 52 thereon.

56 threaded into suitahle openings in ..the por- -tion 49 of the.hracket41. There are. preferably three or more 'threaded openings5 in theportion49 spaced.equal distancesfrom each other so that the threadedthumhscrews 56 may.be

- putinto any adjacent pair of openings. L"Bythis arrangement thethrea;ded thumb screws5fimay be placed indiferentpairs of ppenings:so1that -the hracket 54 is located at different positions with. respectto the hearing member4'l inthe -direction of feed. of thehearings4'l;wherehythe path of travel of the pusher platernay"bevaredalthough the extent of its travel when connected tothehracket54remainsthesame. Thus if the thumh screws 56.in' Eig. 7wereplaced in thetwo threaded openings at theright instead of thetwothrea;dedopeningsat the left shown in that figure; itisohousthat= alonger piece of suhstance may he fecl thanwhen it occupies the positionshown in Fig. '7. This is for the same purpose as has been explained. inconnecton with' Figs. 1-l inclusive of the drawings. Instead of havingslots acnd thumh screws as shown in Fig. 7, I could provide alongitudinal slot in the lower edge of the hracket 54 with a thumb screwor thumb screwsextending therethrough into the portion 49. With such anarrangement it would only be -necessary to loosen"the thumb screwsand.slide the hracket alongthe porton 49 and then tighten the thumb screwsagain in order to secure adjustment of the hracket54, and consequentlyof the pusher plate-5I.

"'I'he hearing portion 53 on the pusher plate 5! is pivoted to thehracket '54 at 58 so as to have pivotal movement-for the same purpose asthe pivotalmovement of the pusher plate in Figs. 1 and2. 'I'he pivotalmovement of the pusher plate is limited hy the stops 59 andill, thelatter limit "ing the movement of the pusher plate and. locating thefacse there-f parallel to the cutting plane when the prongs are facingthe cutting planeanol the former limiting theposition of the pusherplate in aparallel position to that shown in Fig. 7

With the prongs extending away from the cutting plane of theknife.

"0hviously those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains maymake various 'changes in the pa'rticular constructionand arrangement ofparts without departing from the spirit of this invent0n and therefore Ido not wish to he limited except as hereinafter set forth in the appended claims.

'Having thus ully descfihed my invention, what I claim as new and desireto ohtain hy'Letters Patent is:

1. In a slcing machine, the comhinaton with a 'slicingknife, of asuhstancesupport movahle relative to said;slicing knife, uprights onsaid suhstancesupport,a hearing memher for supporting said. uprightsand. slidable along said sup- "port ina direction toward and from theeutting plane of said knife, a pusher plate support slidable upwardlyalong said uprights, a pusher plate, anextension on said pusher platehaving pivotal connection with said pusher plate support at apointspacecl from the operative portions of said.

pusher plate, whereby upon pivotal movement of said. pusher plate, thesame is swung to positions whichare spaced suhstantially differentamounts away from the cutting plane of said knife while said hearingmember occupies the same position with respect to the cutting plane, andsuhstance engaging prongs on opposite faces of said pusher plate wherehywhen said pusher plate is pivoted to its different positions anddifferent fases thereof are facing the cutting plane of said knife, the

portio n which is facing said cutting plane Will have=suhstanceengagingprongs thereon.

2. A slicing machine comprisingza suhstance -support-a bearingmemherslidahl along said supp0rta pusher platehaving suhstantiallyparallelfaces-with outwardly projecting prongs extenoling away from each ether,an extension for saidpusher plate having pivotal oonnection wth -saidhearing memher eccentrc to the fases of said-pusher plate hutsubstantially parallel to the fases thereof, whereby upon pivotal movement of said pusher plate ahout said pimtal con "neetion throughsuhstantally degrees, the faces thereof are caused to face in oppositedirec tionsto these directions inwhich they originally faced, andposition locating means for locating said pusher plate in either of saidpositions t which the same may he moved.

3. In a slicing machine, the comhination with a suhstance support, of aslicing knife, means for moving said suhstance support and. slicingknife relative to each other, a hearing memher slidahle along saidsupport in a direction toward the cutting plane of said knife, a pair oflinks pivotally connected to said hearing memher, a pusher plate,pivotal connections hetween said pusher plate and. the opp0site ende ofsaid links, said pivotal connections extending in a directiontransversely to the path of movement of said hearing memher, wherehyupon angular movement of said links about their pivotal connections withsaid hearing memher, the pusher plate is moved to successive positionssuhstantially parallel with its original postion hut at differentdistances from the cutting plane of said knife.

4. In a slicing machine, the combination with a suhstance support, of aslicing knife, means for moving said suhstance support and slicing kniferelative to each other, a hearing memher slidahle along said support ina direction toward the cutting plane of said knife, a pair of linkspivotally connectecl to said hearing memher, a pusher plate, pivotalconnections hetween said pusher plate and. the opposite ends of saidlinks, said pivotalconnections extending in a direction transversely tothe path of movement of said hearing memher, wherehy upon angularmovement of said links about their pivotal connections with said hearingmemher, the pusher plate is moved to successive positions suhstantiallyparallel with its original position hut at different distances from thecutting plane of said knife, and means maintaining said pusher plate ina plurality of selectecl positions to which the same can he moved.

5. In a slicing machine, the comhinaton with a suhstance support, of aslicing knife, means or moving said suhstance support and slicing kniferelative to each other, a hearing memher slidahle along said support ina direction toward the cutting plane of said knfe,a pair of linkspivotally connected to said hearing memher, a pusher plate, pivotalconnections hetween said pusher plate and the opposite ends of said.links, said pivotal connections extending in a direction transversely tothe path of movement of said hearing memher, wherehy upon angularmovement of said links about their pivotal connections with said hearingmemher, the pusher plate is moved to sucoessive positions substantiallyparallel with its original position hut at different distances from thecutting plane of said knife, and means maintaining said pusher plate ina plurality of selected positions to which the same can he movecl, saidmeans comprising a locking pin for locking the position of said linkswith respect to said hearing memher.

6. In a slicing machine, the comhination with a suhstance support, of aslicing knife, means for moving said suhstance support and slicing kniferelative to each other, a hearing memher slidable along said support ina direotion toward the cutting plane of said knife, a pair of linkspivotally connected. to said hearing memher, a pusher plate, pivotalconnections hetween said pusher plate and the opposite ends of saidlinks, said pivotal connections extending in a direction transversely tothe path of movement of said hearing memher, wherehy upon angularmovement of said links about their pivotal connections with said hearingmemher, the pusher plate is moved to successive positions suhstantially;parallel with its original position hut at different distances from thecutting plane of said knife, and. means maintaining said pusher plate ina plurality of selected positions to which the same can he moved, saidmeans comprising a locking pin on one of said links yieldngly urgedtoward said hearing member and adapted to enter selectecl openingsformeel in said hearing memher.

7. In a slicing machine, the comhination with a suhstance support, of aslicing knife, means for moving said knife and support relative to eachother, a pusher plate, a hearing memher for supporting said pusher plateand having a limited path of travel with respect to said suhstancesupport in a direction toward and from the cutting plane of said knife,and an operative connection hetween said pusher plate and said hearingmemher adjustable to vary the position of the hearing member and pusherplate relatively to each other in a direction toward and from thecutting plane of said knife, whereby said pusher plate may he moved tolimiting positions adjacent to and. remote. from the cutting plane ofsaid knfe which are spacecl from each other a distance which issuhstantially greater than the permitteol travel of said hearing memherand while positively connected to said hearing memher for movementtherewith, said pusher plate in moving from one postion to anotherposition with respect to said hearing memher moving through successiveintermediate positions all of which are parallel to each other.

8. In a slicing machine having a gauge plate and. a rotary knife, apusher plate adapted to push suhstance toward the gauge plate and towardthe cutting plane of the knife, spring means for giving limited movementto the pusher plate toward the gauge plate and said plane, said pusherplate heing pivotally mounted on an axis parallel to the cutting planeof the knife wherehy the pusher plate may he pivoted on its axis tobring another side of the pusher plate into position for engagement withthe suhstance, thereby having opposing surfaces of the pusher platecapahle of engagement with the end of the suhstance to accommodate bothshort and long suhstances, said pusher plate also having engaging meanson its upper and. lower surfaces to engage the suhstance regardless inwhich direction the opposing faces of the pusher plate are positioned.

9. In a slicing machine, a knife and a gauge plate parallel to the planeof the knife, a carriage reciprocahle past the gauge plate and knife, anupstanding memher on said carriage, a pusher plate having at least tvvoparallel suhstance engaging surfaces, a memher extending at right anglesto hoth suhstance engaging surfaces and pivoted to said upstandingmemher at a point displaced from the parallel suhstance engagingsurfaces whereby the pusher plate rnay he swung on its pivot in avertical plane and move the same farther from or closer to the cuttingplane to accommodate long as well as short pieces of suhstance.

10. In a slicing machine, a knife and a gauge plate parallel to theplane of the knife, a carrage reciprocable past the gauge plate andknife, a pusher plate and. means mounting the pusher plate so that itcan he swung into two positions, one nearer the knife plane andgenerally parallel thereto, and. the other further from the knife planeand. generally parallel thereto, said means comprisng a member attachedto the pusher plate adjacent an edge thereof, upright means positionedon said carriage, pivutal means olset from the plane of the pusher plateand connecting said member te said. upright means, sad member, uprightmeans and pivotal means being positoned out of obstructing relationshpwlth the material being fed when the pusher plate is in ether of its twooperative posti0ns.

11. In a slicing machine, a knfe and a gauge plate parallel to the planeof the knife, a carriage recprocable past the gauge plate and knife, apusher plate and means mountng the pusher plate so that it can be swungthrough an are of 180 degrees and rgdly held in ether of two posltlons,one nearer the knfe plane and generally parallel thereto, and the otherfurther from the knfe plane and. generally parallel thereto, said meanscomprising a member attached to the pusher plate adjacent an edgethereof, upright means positioned. on sad. carriage, pivotal meansoffset from the plane of the pusher plate and connecting said member tesaicl upright means, sad member, uprght means and pivotal means bengpostioned. nut of obstructing relationship with the materal being fedwhen the pusher plate is in either of its two operatve positions.

WILHELMUS ADRIANUS VAN BERKEL.

